Indonesian Justice for the Poor Website Since the end of the New Order era, Indonesia has undertaken significant institutional and legal reforms aimed at creating a justice sector capable of delivering accountable government and a more equitable distribution of power and resources. The establishment of judicial independence through the so-called “one roof law”, introduction of the judicial review of legislation through the Constitutional Court and the establishment of multiple specialist courts and oversight Commissions for the judiciary, prosecutors and police, represents change on a significant scale.
Despite the scale of reform and significant donor investment, continued effort is needed to ensure that institutional changes bring justice closer to the people. Public suspicion of the formal legal system remains high, leading to a preference for informal justice delivery systems, which themselves are often discriminatory and inconsistent with Constitutional human rights safeguards. The justice sector still faces challenges in resolving or preventing serious problems which impact upon local governance and economic development.
Justice sector reform initiatives have also traditionally focused on formal state institutions, however, justice is not the exclusive purview of the state. Village level institutions, responsible for the resolution of perhaps as many as 90% of legal problems throughout Indonesia, have suffered from thirty years of highly centralised governance. The justice needs of marginalized groups, particularly religious and ethnic minorities and women are often overlooked in village level dispute resolution systems. They require additional support and attention.
The Justice for the Poor Program started in Indonesia in 2002 in response to these challenges. The Program recognizes that wide-ranging institutional reform of the justice sector is a long-term project. In the meantime those affected by an imperfect justice system require immediate assistance to enforce their rights and secure their livelihoods. Similarly, the provision of justice services to the poor, vulnerable and marginalized can help to build constituencies for demand for legal reform and contribute to the process of systemic change from below. The program has been supporting the efforts of the Government of Indonesia to draft and implement a comprehensive National Access to Justice strategy, to be incorporated into Indonesia’s National Medium-Term Development Plan (2010-2014). This support is provided through a mix or research and operational programs aimed at improving access to justice for communities, in particular the poor. The program works in partnership with government, civil society and donors at both the local and national level.
Areas of Work
Policy and Research Ongoing and future policy and research development includes: - Continued technical assistance and support to the Government of Indonesia in developing and implementing a National Access to Justice Strategy.
- Developing tools and methodology to document the impact of legal empowerment programs. This includes supporting a comprehensive impact evaluation of a Mediation and Community Legal Empowerment program, which is a component of the Support for Poor and Disadvantaged Areas (SPADA) project in Indonesia. Qualitative and quantitative tools have been developed for this research.
Past research includes: - The Village Justice in Indonesia paper tracks the dispute resolution preferences and practices of poor communities and documents their experiences engaging with the formal legal system;
- Forging the Middle Ground: Engaging Non-State Justice (in partnership with the Supreme Court), identifies village-level dispute resolution mechanisms and evaluates their effectiveness from the view point of the poor and marginalized, especially women, ethnic minorities and youth.
- The Local Government Corruption Study maps key factors required to successfully resolve corruption cases involving local government institutions at the district and provincial level.
- Diagnostic Study of Local Regulatory Drafting (in partnership with Yayasan Inovasi Pemerintahan Daerah or YIPD) identifies best-practices in regulatory drafting at the district level, focusing on improving access, quality and harmonization of local regulations;
- The Women’s Access to Justice case-studies details the experiences of women in accessing formal and non-state justice systems.
Operational Activities Justice for the Poor is working with local partners on four ongoing or planned pilot programs: - Revitalization of Legal Aid works with partners in three provinces (West Java, Lampung and West Nusa Tenggara) to strengthen existing community legal aid posts and support dispute resolution processes, focusing on legal issues of farmers and laborers.
- Women’s Legal Empowerment works with PEKKA (the Women Headed Households Program) nationally and four civil society partners in Aceh to support increased awareness of rights and access to legal fora for women’s groups in 8 provinces. Multi-stakeholder fora comprised of local justice sector institutions support the women’s groups in each of the provinces.
- The Local Government Regulation Program works with five local governments to strengthen access to and quality of local service delivery regulations and ensure consistency with national regulations. Lessons learned are fed up to a national government working group on local regulations.
- Village Judicial Autonomy will strengthen the quality of village-level dispute resolution mechanisms in three provinces and ensure greater harmonization and consistency with local regulatory processes.
These programs support the implementation of the National Access to Justice Strategy at the local level. Lessons learned, tools and training materials developed under these programs aim to support broader community empowerment programs including the Government of Indonesia’s National Community Empowerment Program (PNPM). Partnership Building Key activities under this component include: - Supporting the development of a National Paralegal Network, comprising of main NGOs involved in delivering paralegal programs in Indonesia;
- Working with local partners (government and NGO) to support improved information flows between local level initiatives and national policy processes;
- Supporting a network of legal aid/human rights organizations and private lawyers in Aceh to provide training to community lawyers who work with villagers to improve access to legal information and support dispute resolution processes;
- Consolidating the work of donors in support of the Government’s Access to Justice initiative.
Articles Poor Communities Can Secure Legal Rights
Today (World Bank Intranet Home Page)
June 2007 Publications and Reports Partnerships
Indonesia Women Headed Household Program (PEKKA)
Support for Poor and Disadvantaged Areas Project (SPADA)
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Indonesia Office
World Bank, Indonesia Office Contacts
For further information on J4P Indonesia, please contact Matt Zurstrassen |
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